The new David Sedaris audiobook, a collection of the author reading his essays on stage, will be released on vinyl – an old-fashioned record album, complete with old-fashioned album artwork.

Albums are enjoying something of a renaissance, posting $57 million in sales in 2008, more than double the previous year and the best for the format since 1990, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The format is so rare for audiobooks, however, that the Audiobook Publishers Association has never even tracked its sales.

But Maja Thomas, senior vice president for digital and audio publishing at the Hachette Book Group, said she was drawn to the idea precisely because it was quirky. Mr. Sedaris’s “audience is very attuned to irony and is going to find this funny,” Ms. Thomas said.

The album version will only contain 2 of the 5 essays that will be on the CD, but a code will be provided with the album to download the entire thing.